A Swallow's Vigil
by Leo-Novum
Summary: A homage to False Assassin and his vigil on top of the mountain.


A SWALLOW'S VIGIL

The witch had bound him to the mountain and simply told him to defend the gate till his last. She had forced him to obey her commands through the use of a Command Spell and now he was standing here, sword in hand. He had purposely stood in clear view of whoever would be coming up the mountain in hopes of meeting a worthy opponent.

The swordsman who had been given the moniker Assassin was supposed to be known as Sasaki Kojirou yet he knew that he wasn't him. Still, he didn't mind being called by that name as long as he managed to have a good battle with some other legendary entity.

The night was peaceful and cold. The moonlight illuminated everything sufficiently for Assassin to see. The mountain may have been silent but its beauty did not go unappreciated.

The first arrow had been aimed at Assassin's head. It wasn't a special projectile and Assassin casually side stepped and cut it down in the middle of its flight. Assassin frowned. Apparently, the Servant Archer had arrived and had decided to kill him off from a distance. As far as he could tell, the arrow had been fired from the bottom of the steps.

The first arrow was promptly followed by a whole volley that forced Assassin to dance about. His sword became a blur as he parried and slashed as death rained about him. None of these arrows would be fatal for even a human but enough of them combined would be able to kill him.

But in the end, Assassin managed to endure the rain and emerge unscathed.

"Now that was quite rude, you know." Assassin called out. Archer hadn't bothered to reveal himself and that ticked Assassin off. "At least have the dignity to show me your face."

Contrary to his expectation, someone did start climbing the stairs. Assassin narrowed his eyes. He didn't actually expect a Servant like Archer to respond to his taunts like this.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter." Assassin muttered with a small smile. Even if it wasn't a fight with a Servant of the sword, Assassin still had managed to get himself an opponent. Complaining about what sort of opponent he had would be rather ungraceful of him.

The Servant known as Archer bolted up the stairs in a flash of red and black. Assassin took one long moment to gaze at his body and size him up. He had expected his opponent to be using his bow in combat but apparently Archer had switched to black and white blades of some sort.

Steel grey eyes gazed into soulful blue ones. The gaze lasted for a moment.

And then Assassin lashed out.

Archer blocked Assassin's slash in mid air. The Red Servant landed with a thud and quickly ducked as Assassin's next slash nearly beheaded him. Again and again, Assassin swung but no matter how fast he was, Archer was just slightly faster. It was only his superior speed which was keeping him alive or otherwise, Assassin would have killed him in the very first blow.

As Archer attacked with his right, Assassin simply parried the black blade aside and rushed forward to stab his opponent. Archer barely managed to avoid getting himself impaled as he forced Assassin's blade away from his chest with his own white sword.

The two men jumped away from each other. Assassin then noted that he had managed to wound Archer slightly. There was a thin line of red on Archer's black armor.

Assassin kept his eyes on Archer, expecting another attack. For a Servant of the Bow, Assassin had to admit that Archer had a surprising amount of skill with his blades. It was a pity there was no love in his technique though or else there time together would become really enjoyable.

Archer simply turned his back to Assassin and started descending without another word.

"Oh, leaving so soon?" Assassin called out with a hint of disappointment. "Is your strength leaving your body? Come, the night is still young. Let me see those magnificent blades of yours once more."

Archer stopped for a moment.

"Well done, samurai." He said in a loud and clear voice before disappearing from view. Assassin frowned but remained silent. Archer was just one Servant. There would be more to come.

It was night time once more and Assassin was silently marveling his surroundings. Times may change but the inherent beauty of nature never failed to impress him.

Assassin noticed the foreign presence as soon as it came close. The bloodiness of its scent was enough to tip him off. Whatever it was, it was trying to sneak past him through the trees but its stealth wasn't good enough to fool Assassin.

"It is rather rude to go over someone's wall, you know." Assassin called out. The presence stopped. For a moment, all was still before the intruder leaped out of the trees and on to the mountain steps.

"Greetings. It isn't often when one has the honor of fighting such a beautiful stranger." Assassin said with a teasing smile. The intruder turned out to be a tall and blind folded female. Assassin couldn't tell which class did she belong to but considering how she had opted to sneak past him, he was willing to say that she belonged neither to any of the Knight classes nor was she a Berserker.

"Wouldn't you be better off on your steed, Ri-" Assassin began to speak but was interrupting by something thrown at him. He quickly stepped aside and dodged the attack. Rider was using a length of chain with a nail at its end as her weapon. Se crouched low on the ground, nail in hand before she suddenly sprang forward and tried to drive her weapon through Assassin's head.

She was forced to retreat rather quickly as Assassin's blade nearly separated her head from her shoulders. In fact, he succeeded in cutting of a small length of her hair. The few strands fell ever so slowly, showing how close Rider had come to death.

Assassin looked at his opponent warily. Rider's entire fighting style was quite serpentine in movement. She was also much faster and stronger than Archer meaning that Assassin was at a much greater disadvantage than before.

That was acceptable.

Rider sprang forward once more. Assassin swung his sword.

Rider's chain wrapped itself around Assassin's right hand. With a powerful tug, Rider lifted Assassin off his feet. Rider prepared herself to kick Assassin in the air.

And was once again forced to retreat as Assassin simply switched his sword from right to left. His swing was no less lethal than before and once again, it was only Rider's superior speed that saved her. Assassin landed safely, his right arm no longer restricted by Rider's chain.

Rider launched herself at Assassin. This was the fastest Assassin had ever seen her move and she would have surely killed him with her kick. It was only his well honed survival instincts that saved him and even then, Rider's heel grazed Assassin's side. Something cracked inside him and a bolt of pain shot through his entire frame. Ignoring the injury, Assassin lashed out as quickly as he could.

Rider retreated a third time.

"I must admit, I have never seen such impressive use of legs before." Assassin said from above. "Have you curried favor from others with them?" he asked teasingly but his words seemed to enrage Rider.

Assassin sighed before finally taking a proper stance. All of his slashes and slices before had been delivered without proper posture but Rider was just too powerful for him to handle. Rider turned her head towards him and seemed to consider. The pungent smell of blood that she gave slightly faded as she finally turned around leaped away into the darkness.

"That's the second time." Assassin noticed sorrowfully. All the Servants were too cautious. None of them wanted to have a proper fight and were instead focusing on the War.

Still, he reassured himself, there were three unfought Servants left. One of them had to be a good warrior.

Lancer's arrival had been quite canine. He was direct, loud and lusting for blood.

"At last, a worthy opponent!" Assassin said, a sudden smile springing to his lips as he sensed the intruder's arrival. "Our battle shall be legendary!"

Lancer arrived at the top of the stairs and without a word, thrust his spear.

For the first time, it was Assassin who was forced to retreat. Compared to Lancer, Rider might as well have been moving through water; Archer was just standing still. Even though he had jumped back on time, Lancer's spear still managed to damage his clothes.

Assassin had barely readied himself before Lancer attacked again. Every thrust was a fatal blow and it took all of Assassin's skill and experience to simply survive.

"What kind of an Assassin uses a sword anyways?" Lancer asked in an annoyed voice as he tried to stab Assassin through the heart.

"One of a kind." Assassin replied as he evaded another thrust.

"Let's see what you're made of!" Lancer snarled as he drove his point home.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Assassin retorted gladly.

After what seemed like eternity, Lancer finally made a mistake. He thrust forward, grunting with the effort. Assassin finally found enough room to step aside. Grabbing his sword with both hands, Assassin swung at Lancer's neck.

It should have been a certain kill. But Lancer was faster than Assassin. Seeing no way to evade either forward or backwards, the Blue Knight jumped.

As soon as he landed, Assassin slashed again. Lancer jumped backwards. Assassin was now on the higher ground once more. He stood ready for another attempt.

"I'll say this much, you're quite good." Lancer said in an appreciative tone.

"Oh stop, I am blushing." Assassin replied dryly.

"But it's a pity to say, my Master is quite a coward and he doesn't want this fight to continue. Keep yourself alive, Assassin, because I am definitely going to impale you on my spear the next time we meet!" Lancer said as he as well turned back and started going back down.

"That was quite needlessly dramatic." Assassin commented as Lancer disappeared.

Assassin was now feeling quite annoyed. Lancer had been fast, brusque and had left far too early. Very much like a man visiting a brothel, Assassin realized with an unwilling smile. If this continued, Assassin would end up without having a proper duel at all.

Berserker had been different. Archer had been like a hawk, pragmatic and ruthless. Rider like a snake, stealthy and fast. Lancer like a hound, baying for blood but ultimately obedient to his Master.

Berserker was nothing like the other three. Berserker was less like a Servant and more like a force of nature. He had been a hurricane, an earthquake, a force to be reckoned but not to be reasoned with.

And he had nearly killed Assassin as he arrived.

"What's this now? Surely, a word of greeting wouldn't have hurt!" Assassin said as he looked at Berserker. He had nearly been cut in half by Berserker's stone sword and had only survived by jumping back in time. His clothes had still gotten torn simply by the wind made by Berserker's swing.

Assassin doubted if Berserker could even be called human. Nine feet of pure rage gazed at Assassin, held back only by the will of a little girl standing behind.

"You're right, mister. Allow me to introduce myself." The little girl said with a smile. She bowed mockingly. "How do you do, mister? My name is Ilyasviel von Einzbern and this is my Servant Berserker. He is going to kill you so prepare to die." She said.

And then Berserker attacked.

Assassin could tell immediately that facing the giant head on would mean certain death.

So he ran around Berserker. He had to time his sprint perfectly in order to avoid the giant's sword. As soon as he began to swing, Assassin started running. Berserker may have been as fast as Lancer but he wasn't as agile. Once he began to swing his sword, he wouldn't be able to stop immediately. Assassin used that to his advantage as he darted under Berserker's arm. With as much speed he could muster, Assassin swung his sword at Berserker's master, intent on taking her head.

He failed completely as Berserker stepped between his Master and him. Assassin barely had time to retreat as Berserker lashed out. The blow ripped up the steps as stone chips and sand flew in the air.

Assassin smiled a little despairingly. He did indeed want a good fight to death but not against a savage like this. There was no grace or stance in his actions; Berserker was simply a madman with a large length of stone.

Light rained around Berserker forcing him to shield his Master. Caster's form appeared in the air, her cape spread apart like wings. Her staff was pointed at the little girl as a hail of eldritch spells poured down.

"Finally, the witch arrives." Assassin said. He felt slightly glad at her arrival, despite how much they both hated each other.

No matter how much Caster hit Berserker with her spells, they had no effect. The only reason the giant refused to move was because if he did so, he would expose his own Master to danger. Cursing himself for using such a low method, Assassin dashed forward. Taking advantage of Berserker's immobility, Assassin tried to stab the little girl.

Any other swordsman might have been killed on the spot by what happened next. Assassin did force Berserker to retreat but nearly got himself torn into two as Berserker retaliated as he jumped away. Assassin had to crouch down to avoid Berserker's stone sword and till got several strands of his hair cut.

As soon as Berserker got to a safe distance, he put down is Master and dashed up the stairs again. Caster threw spell after spell but nothing seemed to have any effect on the giant. Caster herself either couldn't hit the little girl or wasn't hitting her for some reason.

Once again, Assassin slipped past Berserker.

And had to block for the first time.

The same trick of sneaking past didn't work twice and Berserker had quickly lashed out as Assassin attempted to slip past him. The stone sword nearly hit Assassin and it forced him to block as he jumped backwards.

Now Berserker was on the upper levels of the stairs while Assassin was below. Assassin's sword bent out of shape by the hit it had taken but otherwise he himself was fine. Without losing another moment, Assassin rushed towards the little girl once again. Berserker intercepted once more and forced Assassin back. As soon as he was safe, Assassin jumped back to the top of the stairs. Berserker roared defiantly at Caster and Assassin but didn't move from his place.

"It's too bad really that we're out of time." The little girl called Ilya cheerfully called out. Assassin quickly looked around and noticed that it was already dawn. "Perhaps I'll just have to kill you next time!" she said as Berserker picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. Without another word, the giant and the child went away. Assassin breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Caster.

"Oi, witch! Would you mind fixing my sword? I would be unable to defend this temple if it's twisted like this." Assassin said. Caster made a disgusted noise but gestured at Assassin anyways. The bent blade suddenly straightened itself. Assassin once more took his place at the head of the steps. Caster disappeared in thin air but Assassin paid her no heed.

The sunshine of a new day slowly began to shine down on Assassin. He took a deep breath as he gazed around.

"With any luck, the Servant of the Sword will be one rivaling my skill." Assassin said as he patiently waited.

It was mentioned in the visual novel that Assassin managed to repel all four Servants besides Saber. This is my homage to him. Points to the person who can find the most famous quotes or their derivatives.


End file.
